Mechanism of generating a sound radar image in a video game device

ABSTRACT

An aspect of the present invention includes processes for detecting an event input, inputted as an operation signal, and determining sound characteristic information and sound effects corresponding to the event input, obtaining a first sound source position coordinates information in which a location where an event occurred in a virtual space is taken, determining a propagation mode of a sound to be produced corresponding to the event input in the virtual space based on sound characteristics information and the first sound source position coordinates information, determining a second sound source position coordinates information indicating a position of a sound source on the radar image based on the first sound source position coordinates information, and displaying a sound wave image indicating a propagation mode of the sound effect on the radar image based on the propagation mode of the sound and the second sound source position coordinates information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to electronic game devices, dataprocessing methods in electronic game devices, and programs forexecuting such methods on a computer, and particularly relates toelectronic game devices in which a game application program uses thepropagation of sound to determine how easy a player character isdiscovered by enemy characters and the result thereof is displayed ondisplay means which is different from a main screen.

BACKGROUND

In a known game program, a radar function is used to discover enemycharacters which are defined as opponents in the game applicationprogram. For example, JP H10-263205-A discloses a game device in which avideo image showing a soccer game as seen from a viewpoint definedwithin a virtual space is displayed at the center of a screen and asmall-sized radar screen is displayed independently of this backgroundscreen. In this game device, the viewpoint moves from the rear side of aplayer character which advances toward a ball, and the video imagecentered around this viewpoint is displayed on the entire screen. Atthis time, it is quite difficult for a game-player to know thepositional relationships between the player character being operated bythe game-player and teammates and opponent players who are presentaround the player character.

Accordingly, a radar image is configured so as to be centered around theplayer character and to indicate the positional relationships betweenthe player character and the teammates and opponent players, and thisradar image is displayed on a monitor different from the main screen.

In military applications, radar display methods are applied to targetacquisition techniques using sound. In active sonar, reflected waves ofsound, emitted from a warship, propagating through water are received bya receiver of the warship to detect other ships and specify theirpositions. Since the state of sound propagation varies depending onwater flow and temperature, correction is applied to the received data.The sound propagation state is displayed on a display screen of acontrol device as a radar screen. It should be noted that, in passivesonars, sound waves are not actively emitted from the warship, butrather, sound produced from other ships is received by a sound detectorand the positions of the other ships are specified.

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application PublicationH10-263205

There are conventional games in which enemy characters arranged withinat least a predetermined range in a game space react to a sound effectthat is produced in response to an event caused by a player input andthe enemy characters, who had been on standby up until that point oftime, begin to attack the player character (“Bonanza Bros.,” acommercial game by Sega Corporation in 1990). Since the movements of theenemy characters therein were changed in response to the occurrence ofan event itself, it was not actually determined whether or not the soundthat had been produced by the actual event had in fact reached the enemycharacters (whether or not it was heard by the enemy characters), whichhas given a game-player a sense of unnaturalness when an event occurredand all the enemies within the predetermined range reacted regardless oftheir distances from the source of the sound.

SUMMARY Problems to be Solved by the Invention

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide: a gameapplication program which can provide a game-player with an appropriateindicator indicating the extent to which opponents perceive a soundproduced from an object operated by the game-player, thereby enablingthe game-player to appropriately operate objects to be operated; a dataprocessing method for electronic amusement devices for executing thegame application program and an electronic amusement device.

Means for Solving the Problems

In order to achieve this object, the present invention involves imageprocessing technologies applied to an electronic amusement devicecomprising a memory in which a game program is stored, an operationterminal that is operated by a game-player, and a data processing devicethat executes data processing for electronic amusement based onoperation data from the operation terminal and the game program andexecutes processing for outputting the processing result to displaymeans.

That is, the present invention is directed to executing sound radarimage processing for creating a sound radar image representingpropagation of sound based on the program and operation data anddisplaying this image on the display means, wherein the sound radarimage processing comprises: sound source coordinate position settingthat sets a coordinate position of a sound source in a virtual threedimensional space defined by the game program; sound characteristicssetting that sets a parameter relating to a characteristic of a soundproduced from a sound source; sound propagation mode setting that sets apropagation mode of a sound in the virtual space based on the soundsource coordinate position and sound characteristics parameters; soundpropagation mode display processing for displaying the sound propagationmode on the display means different from a main screen; target bodysymbol display processing that obtains a position, with respect to thesound source position, of a target body defined as an opponent of thegame-player in the game program and based on this positionalrelationship displays the target body symbol on the sound propagationmode display image; and overlap determination processing that determinesan overlap between the position of the target body in the virtual spaceand the sound propagation range.

Moreover, the present invention involves a data processing method in agame, wherein by a CPU executing a game program and through control ofan action and a position of a player character in a virtual space basedon an event input that is inputted based on operation signal fromoperation means operated by a game-player, the game is advanced, and animage of the game is displayed on display means, and a radar image,which indicates a relative positional relationship between the playercharacter and objects arranged in a predetermined range thereabout inthe virtual space, is displayed on the display means, the dataprocessing method comprising:

1) a step of detecting the event input that is inputted by the operationsignal and determining sound characteristic information and soundeffects corresponding to the event input;

2) a step of obtaining a first sound source position coordinatesinformation in which a location where the event occurred in the virtualspace is taken as a sound source position;

3) a step of determining a propagation mode of a sound to be producedcorresponding to the event input in the virtual space based on the soundcharacteristics information and the first sound source positioncoordinates information;

4) a step of determining a second sound source position coordinatesinformation indicating a position of a sound source on the radar imagebased on the first sound source position coordinates information; and

5) a step of displaying a sound wave image indicating a propagation modeof the sound effect on the radar image based on the propagation mode ofthe sound and the second sound source position coordinates information.

Moreover, another embodiment of the present invention further includes:

6) a step of arranging an enemy character in the virtual space andcontrolling an action and position of the enemy character, anddisplaying on the radar image a symbol indicating a relative positionalrelationship in the virtual space between the player character and theenemy character,7) a step of obtaining position coordinates information of the enemycharacter in the virtual space,8) a step of judging whether or not the enemy character is present in areachable range of a sound produced corresponding to the event inputbased on the position coordinates information of the enemy character,the sound characteristics information, and the first sound sourceposition information, and9) a step of changing a parameter relating to an action of the enemycharacter when a determination is made in the 8) process that the enemycharacter is present within the reachable range of the sound.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention can provide a game application system that iscapable of: displaying the propagation state of a sound on a screendifferent from a main screen; displaying a symbol of an opponent in animage of a sound propagation mode, and determining an overlap betweenthe region of sound propagation and the position of the opponent; and,by setting an extent to which the opponent perceives a sound sourcebased on the determination result and determining an action mode of theopponent based on the extent of the perception, providing thegame-player with an appropriate indicator indicating the extent to whichthe opponent perceives a sound emitted from an object operated by thegame-player, thereby enabling the game-player to accurately operate anoperation object.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic game device according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is one scene of a radar image displayed on a monitor.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display image in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of data processing means.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating storage areas of a system memory.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing display operations for a radar image.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following embodiment to be described, a game device having a dataprocessing function (computer function) executes a game applicationprogram such that a game-player can play an electronic game, and thestory of the game application program is, in summary, that a ninja aimsto infiltrate into enemy facilities without being discovered by theenemy.

First, the configuration of the game device is described. FIG. 1 is ablock diagram of an electronic game device according to the presentinvention. A game device 100 is provided with: a program data storagedevice or a storage medium (including for example an optical disk andoptical disk drive, and a flash memory) 101 in which a game program anddata (including video data and music data) are stored; a CPU 102 forcarrying out such tasks as execution of the game program, control of theentire system, and coordinate calculations for image display; a systemmemory 103 for storing programs and data necessary for the CPU 102 tocarry out processing; a boot ROM 104 for storing programs and datanecessary when the game device 100 is started up; and a bus arbiter 105for controlling the flow of programs and data between the various blocksof the game device 100 and externally connected devices, thesecomponents being each connected to a bus.

A rendering processor 106 is connected to the bus, and video (movie)data read out from the program data storage device or storage medium101, as well as images to be generated in response to an operation bythe game-player or the progress of the game are displayed on a displaymonitor 110 by the rendering processor 106. Graphics data and the likenecessary for the rendering processor 106 to generate images are storedin a graphics memory (frame buffer) 107.

A sound processor 108 is connected to the bus, and music data read outfrom the program data storage device or storage medium 101 as well assound effects and voices to be generated in response to an operation bythe game-player or the progress of the game are output from a speaker111 by the sound processor 108. Sound data and the like necessary forthe sound processor 108 to generate sound effects and voice are storedin a sound memory 109.

A modem 112 is connected to the game device 100, and the game device 100can communicate with other game devices 100 and a network server via atelephone wire (not shown in drawings). The game device 100 is alsoconnected to: a backup memory 113 (including a disk storage medium andstorage device) in which information concerning the game at a midwayprocess and program data inputted and outputted via the modem arerecorded; and a controller 114 that inputs to the game device 100information for controlling the game device 100 and externally connecteddevices in accordance with an operation by an operator. The CPU 102 andthe rendering processor 106 constitute an image computation processunit. It should be noted that the units described above as thecomponents of the game device may be provided in other game devices orservers. An electronic amusement system, that is, an electronicamusement device according to the present invention, may be achieved bya game-player's game device terminal and a server.

FIG. 2 shows one scene of a video image displayed on a monitor, thescene involving a story in which a player character operated by thegame-player approaches enemy characters (opponents) while striving notto be noticed and then defeats the enemy characters. The drawing shows asound radar image (screen) according to the present invention at theupper right thereof. The sound radar screen is distinguished from thecenter image of the game.

FIG. 3 shows an image of the sound radar screen. A center 12 indicates asound source and shows a manner in which a ripple 14 of sound from thesound source spreads out while enlarging the circles. Triangle symbols16 displayed on the sound radar image indicate enemy characters whichare defined as enemies of a player character operated by the game-playerin the story of the game. The player character and the enemy charactersare located in a virtual space (a space of three dimensionalcoordinates) defined by the game program. In accordance with anoperational input from the controller, the player character moves andruns in a predetermined direction and acts so as to carry out apredetermined attack on the enemy characters. The enemy characters aredisplayed apart from the sound source according to the distance in thevirtual space between the sound source and the enemy characters.

The CPU 102, which is one data processing device, achieves dataprocessing means (sound radar image processing means) based on the gameprogram and various types of data. As shown in FIG. 4, the dataprocessing means achieves: a sound source coordinate positioncalculation unit that calculates the coordinate position of the soundsource based on an event input, which is inputted to the game device 100by the game-player operating the controller; a sound source intensitycalculation unit that calculates sound source intensity, that is, theintensity of a sound; a tone determination unit that determines tone; asound radar screen processing unit that executes processing forgenerating the sound radar screen and displaying the sound radar on amonitor; a total alarm level parameter calculation unit for targetbodies; and a movement mode processing unit for target bodies. Each unitis defined by commands and data of the game application program.

The “event input” refers to data representing commands which are givento the game program via the controller so that the player character runsor jumps. For example, when the player character jumps, a jumping soundis produced, and the sound source coordinate position calculation unit,handling this jump as the sound source, stores the position where theplayer character jumps as a sound source position in a predeterminedregion of a memory. Also, the “event” herein can also include eventsother than those made by the player character itself, e.g., an event inwhich the player character throws a stone and the stone collides withthe ground or a water surface. In this example, a point of collisionbetween the stone and the ground constitutes the sound sourcecoordinates.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing regions of the system memory 103, inwhich position information relating to sound sources is stored in asound source position memory region. Based on predetermined arithmeticexpressions, the sound intensity calculation unit calculates theintensity of sound based on event input information and other data (suchas the player character's speed and the characteristics of the surfaceon which the player character is present, for example, whether it is afloor surface where sound is likely to be produced or a grass fieldsurface where sound is unlikely to be produced). The sound intensity isstored in a sound intensity memory shown in FIG. 5.

The sound radar screen processing unit generates the sound radar screenshown in FIG. 3. The maximum reachable range of a sound is defined bythe maximum distance from a sound source based on the intensity of thesound. Data and parameters necessary for generating the sound radarscreen are stored in the game program. The tone determination unitdetermines the tone of sound produced from the sound source, for examplea sound of a person running, a sound of water splashing, or a metallicsound, and stores the tone in a memory. Tone and sound intensity areexamples of the characteristics of sound.

The total alarm level parameter calculation means are means forcalculating the level of an alarm which sound produced from a soundsource gives to enemy characters. The “alarm level” corresponds to alevel at which a sound is perceived by an opponent character. The alarmlevel is defined by parameters. As shown in FIG. 5, the parameter valuesare temporarily stored in the system memory.

The alarm levels, being the level of sense of alarm that the enemycharacters feel, include, for example, inattention (normal),cautiousness (attentive), vigilance (investigating), and assurance(attacking). The “inattention” refers to a state in which the enemycharacter does not need to react even when there is a sound, the“cautiousness” refers to a state in which the enemy character needs toturn its face toward a sound, the “vigilance” refers to a state in whichthe enemy character needs to advance toward a sound, and the “assurance”is a state in which the enemy character needs to fire a weapon toward asound source. As described above, the movement modes of enemy charactersare determined based on the total parameter values of alarm levels. Thetotal parameter values of alarm levels and the movement modes (motiondata of the enemy characters) are defined in, for example, a tableformat in the game program.

The total parameters of alarm levels are defined for example bymultiplying a parameter “a” relating to a sound intensity by a parameter“b” relating to a tone. Higher parameter values are set for higher soundintensities, and higher parameters are set for sounds with tones thatare recognized by the enemy more easily (e.g., a sound of an explosion).The sound intensity should be determined at the position of the enemycharacter and the sound intensity is calculated by attenuating theinitial intensity of a sound from a sound source in accordance with theposition of the sound source and the position of the enemy character.

By providing on the sound radar screen processing unit the movementmodes of enemy characters according to alarm levels, the symbols ofenemy characters move in the determined modes on the sound radar screen.At this time, the colors of the triangular symbols of the enemycharacters may be changed in accordance with the alarm levels. The totalalarm level parameter values become higher for enemy characters that arecloser to the sound source.

Next, data processing operations executed by the data processing deviceis described according to a flowchart shown in FIG. 6. First, when thegame program starts, the CPU 102 calculates the position coordinates ofa sound source in the virtual space (S100).

Then the intensity of the sound generated from the sound source iscalculated (S102). Next, the maximum reachable range of the sound iscalculated based on the intensity of the sound at the sound source(S104). The maximum reachable range of a sound is defined using aspherical surface. Then the distance between the position of the enemycharacter and the sound source is calculated and this distance iscompared to the diameter of the maximum sphere defining the maximumreachable range (S106). This comparison is repeated for all thecharacters that should be displayed on the sound radar.

For each enemy character inside the spherical surface, the initialintensity at the sound source is attenuated based on the distancebetween the enemy character and the sound source, and then a parametervalue (parameter “a”) relating to the sound intensity is calculatedbased on the attenuated value (S108). At S110, the tone of the soundproduced from the sound source is determined and a parameter value(parameter value “b”) relating to the tone is determined. Based on theseparameters, e.g., by multiplying these parameters, the total parametervalues are calculated (S112). Based on the total parameter values, thealarm level of each enemy character inside the spherical surface isselected from multiple stages in the table stored in the game program.Then the movement mode of each enemy character is determined inaccordance with the selected stage of alarm level (S114).

The action of each enemy character is selected based on the movementmode. It should be noted that even when the calculation result indicatesthat sound is perceivable to enemy characters, if the tone of such sounddoes not give sense of alarm to the enemy characters, the level ofparameters indicating the alarm level is set low.

At S116, data processing is executed to create a sound radar image andthe sound radar image is displayed on the screen. The maximum reachposition of the ripple of sound has been determined in S104. In thevideo image of the ripple of sound spreading out, the diameters of thecircles constituting the ripple increase for each frame. Relativepositions of the target bodies relative to the sound source coordinatesare calculated and symbols of the respective target bodies are displayedon the sound radar image. The symbols of the target bodies are displayedoutside the maximum reachable range of the sound. Since sound does notreach these target bodies, the alarm levels of the target bodies havelow parameter values. On the other hand, the parameter values of targetbodies closer to the sound source have higher numerical values.

The above-described embodiment provides, for example, the followingadvantages to a game-player as compared to conventional radar displays.Since the game-player can judge whether or not a sound is perceived byopponents, the game-player can be more careful in the operation of theplayer character he is operating. The game-player can quickly detectwhether or not a sound source is perceived by opponents and can swiftlytake a suitable action.

It should be noted that the intensity of sound (a sound volume) can beconveyed to the game-player by, for example, displaying numerical valueson the sound radar image and changing the colors of circles constitutingthe ripple of sound. Also, the sound intensity and the propagation stateof sound may be corrected in accordance with the environment of thevirtual space (the atmospheric temperature and geographical features,etc). Furthermore, sound may be attenuated by a predetermined value foreach frame. In this case, a location where the sound intensity becomeszero defines the maximum reachable range of the sound. Furthermore, adisplay of tone can be added to the radar image. The color or shape (athick line, a thin line, etc.) of the ripple (circles) of sound may bechanged.

It should be noted that a typical example of sound, which is defined asa sound source, is sound caused by an action of the player character.Naturally occurring sounds (such as sounds caused by a movement of ananimal and a collapse of a rock) may be defined as sound sources asneeded. For example, if enemy characters run towards a sound produced bya movement of an animal, it is possible to create a condition in whichfor the player character will not be easily discovered by the enemycharacters.

In the present invention, “sound source information,” which indicatesthe type of sound produced when a certain event has occurred, refers toinformation including: the type of a sound source itself that producedthe sound (e.g., a sound produced by the player character, a warningsound or phrase produced by an enemy and a game object such as a bomb);the meaning which the relevant sound indicates in the game (e.g., awarning sound and an ordinary phrase); the type of action that producedthe sound (e.g., a walking sound, sound produced by the movement of asword and sound of a weapon hitting walls); and the like, and“propagation mode information” of sound refers to information that isnot a realistic simulation of an actual sound but that can be setarbitrarily by the game maker, such as intensity (volume), reachablerange, reach speed, and image data for displaying the propagation modeon the radar screen.

Also, the sound characteristics information does not have to be set forall events which potentially produce sounds in the game. For example,assuming that a sound of a certain event is set so that it does notaffect the actions of the enemy but produces another sound which resultsfrom the certain event and which affects the actions of the enemy (e.g.,a sound of a throwing star being thrown (a sound effect is actuallyemitted)) in the game, the original sound can be set so as to beexcluded from the definition of “sound characteristics information.” Bysetting the sound characteristic information as described above, thesound of the throwing star being thrown is not displayed on the soundradar and the enemy does not react to the “sound of the throwing starbeing thrown” regardless of the conditions in the game.

Further, if the throwing star hits a wall or the like, the resultingimpact sound is defined as “sound characteristics information (thelocation of impact is set as the sound source position coordinates).”Accordingly, when the throwing star hits a wall or the like, sound wavesoriginating from the location of impact and spreading out therefrom areshown on the sound radar and enemies within the reachable range canreact to the impact sound in such a way that they increase their alarmlevels or change their viewing field ranges toward the position wherethe impact sound occurred.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention can be applied to an electronic amusement device.

1. A data processing method performed in a video game device forproviding a video game in which an action and a position of a playercharacter in a virtual space is determined based on an event signal froman input device, such that a game is generated and displayed on adisplay, the game image including a radar image which indicates apositional relationship between the player character and an objectpositioned within a predetermined distance from the player character,the method comprising: detecting, by the video game device, the eventsignal from the input device, and determining sound characteristicinformation and an effect sound based on the event signal; identifying,by the video game device, a first sound source position in the virtualspace based on a current action and a position of the player characterbased on the event signal; determining, by the video game device, apropagation mode based on the sound characteristics information and thefirst sound source position, the propagation mode including at least oneof a reachable range of the effect sound, an intensity of the effectsound depending on a distance from the sound source position, and apropagation speed of the effect sound; determining, by the video gamedevice, a second sound source position on the radar image based on thefirst sound source position; and generating, by the video game device, awave pattern image on the radar image based on the propagation mode andthe second sound source position, the wave pattern image indicating awave pattern of the effect sound spreading out from the first soundsource position in the virtual space, and performing control ofdisplaying the wave pattern image on the radar image on the display. 2.The data processing method according to claim 1, further comprising:arranging an enemy character in the virtual space and controlling anaction and position of the enemy character, and displaying on the radarimage a symbol indicating a positional relationship in the virtual spacebetween the player character and the enemy character, obtaining positioncoordinates information of the enemy character in the virtual space,judging whether or not the enemy character is present in the reachablerange corresponding to the event input based on the position coordinatesinformation of the enemy character, the sound characteristicsinformation, and the first sound source position information, andchanging a parameter relating to an action of the enemy character whenthe enemy character is present within the reachable range of the sound.3. A video game device, comprising: a memory configured to store a gameprogram; an input device which is manipulated by a game player; and adata processing device configured to execute the game program forproviding a video game in accordance with an event signal from the inputdevice, wherein the data processing device performs a method, under theexecution of the game program, comprising: defining a sound source and atarget in a virtual space; determining a parameter relating tocharacteristics of a sound generated by the sound source; determining apropagation mode based on on a position of the sound source and thesound characteristics, the propagation mode including at least one of areachable range of the sound, an intensity of the sound depending on adistance from the sound source, and a propagation speed of the sound;generating a wave pattern image based on the propagation mode, the wavepattern image indicating a wave pattern of the sound spreading out fromthe sound source in the virtual space; generating a radar image byoverlapping a symbol for the target and the wave pattern image based ona positional relationship between the sound source and the target;displaying the radar image on a display; and determining an overlap wavepattern and the target.
 4. A device according to claim 3, wherein one ofthe sound characteristics is a parameter relating to sound intensity. 5.The device according to claim 3, wherein one of the soundcharacteristics is a parameter relating to sound tone.
 6. The deviceaccording to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises calculating asound perception parameter corresponding to a level at which the targetperceives the sound source after the determination of overlap isaffirmed.
 7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the soundperception level parameter is calculated based on a parameter relatingto the sound characteristics.
 8. The device according to claim 6,wherein the method further comprises determining a movement mode of thetarget based on the sound perception level parameter value.
 9. Thedevice according to claim 6, wherein the method further compriseschanging a display mode of a symbol of the target based on the soundperception level parameter value.
 10. The device according to claim 3,wherein a symbol of the target on the radar image outside a maximumrange to which the sound can be propagated.
 11. A data processing methodperformed in a video game device including a memory configured to storea game program, an input device which is manipulated by a player of thegame, and a data processing device configured to execute the gameprogram for providing a video game in accordance with an event signalfrom the input device, the data processing method comprising: defining,by the video game device, a sound source and a target in a virtualspace; determining, by the video game device, a parameter relating tocharacteristics of a sound generated from the sound source; determining,by the video game device, a propagation mode based on a position of thesound source and the sound characteristics, the propagation modeincluding at least one of a reachable range of the sound, an intensityof the sound depending on a distance from the sound source, and apropagation speed of the sound; generating, by the video game device, awave pattern image based on the propagation mode, the wave pattern imageindicating a wave pattern of the sound spreading out from the soundsource in the virtual space; generating, by the video game device, aradar image by overlapping a symbol for the target and the wave patternimage based on a positional relationship between the sound source andthe target; displaying, by the video game device, the radar image on adisplay; and determining, by the video game device, an overlap of thewave pattern and the target.
 12. A non transitory computer-readablestorage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor,perform a method comprising: defining a sound source and a target in avirtual space; determining a parameter relating to characteristics of asound generated from the sound source; determining a propagation modebased on a position of the sound source and the sound characteristics,the propagation mode including at least one of a reachable range of thesound, an intensity of the sound depending on a distance from the soundsource, and a propagation speed of the sound; generating a wave patternimage based on the propagation mode, the wave pattern image indicating awave pattern of the sound spreading out from the sound source in thevirtual space; generating a radar image by overlapping a symbol for thetarget and the wave pattern image based on a positional relationshipbetween the sound source and the target; displaying the radar image on adisplay; and determining an overlap of the wave pattern and the target.